Next To You (Helsa, Kristanna)
by distressingdisneydamsel
Summary: Modern AU. Anna finally finds refuge in Kristoff since she broke up a with Hans, but a year later Hans moves in next door to depressed Elsa and vengeful Anna. Hans rejoining their lives causes things to stir and the relationships between all of them to be tested. Trigger warning for themes of abuse which is why it has an M rating.
1. Chapter 1: Summer Sadness

It was a disgustingly hot summer. The air felt sticky hot. It was bright enough outside that the light could cause a migraine. Elsa was wearing a pale, pink sweater to ensure she wouldn't get a sunburn. Additionally, she liked feeling like she was in a cozy autumn sweater. She sat inside, looking at her sister enjoying the light. Her sister, Anna, sat by a pool in a bright yellow bikini with frills. Both sisters wore buns to keep the heat off their necks. Anna was eating cherries while wearing heart shapped sunglasses, listening to up beat love songs, earning more freckels instead of growing tanner. A tall glass of pineapple juice was near Anna's chair. It was a time of year that commercials told Elsa she's supposed to feel so alive, dance, and feel the warmth on her skin. She only felt the verge of heat strokes. She felt oddly depressed during summers. Everyone else seemed to be excited for summer, but there was nothing for her to do during summers. Elsa's body felt like it was melting into the couch because she was so over heated and deeply bored. Knowing nothing interesting would happen, decided to walk their dog, olaf. Olaf was a Chinese Crested breed, which Elsa found hideous. It was Anna who insisted on keeping the dog, although Elsa was the one who picked the dog when she was a three year old girl. Anna grew to be more obsessed with the dog than Elsa.

"Come here, Olaf," Elsa mumbled as the white dog skipped to her. She hooked a leash to its collar. The moment she stepped outside of her house with Olaf, she saw her new neighbor across the street on the opposite side was coming outside too. She tried to slowly turn around so he wouldn't see her. She didn't want to talk to him.

"Elsa, Hey! Hey Elsa!"

"I forgot something inside!" She panicked, grabbing a resisting Olaf into her arms from the ground.

"Elsa, it's me! Hans! It's so good to see you!" He jogged into Elsa's front yard and smiled at her like a politician.

"Hey," she nervously laughed, she straightened back up hold Olaf. He reached to touch Olaf in her arms, and in a panic, she threw Olaf on the ground so he couldn't touch her dog.

"He's so cute! Hey little guy!" Hans squatted down and talked to Olaf in a cheery voice, which got the dog more excited to get to bask in his attention. Olaf started jumping and breathing quickly. "How's Anna?" Hans asked, straightening up. Elsa hadn't met Hans except one time, and the meeting lasted only 10 minutes. When he stood all the way erect, she hadn't realized he was so tall. She never got a chance to study his facial features before because she'd always been too shy to make eye contact with people. It'd been about a year since she'd last seen him. Elsa cleared her throat, hoping to get over her anxiety. She felt like she looked ugly with no makeup and clear eyebrows, and she worried she looked weird wearing a sweater on such a hot day.

Hans sighed, "I know Anna and I broke up, but that doesn't mean I can't ask how she's been." He looked at Elsa with an accusing smile, seeing it made her cross her arms to keep herself away from him. The opposite reaction he wanted. He retreated, "I mean, I know she took the breakup pretty hard, but I just wanted to be friendly. How've you been, Elsa?"

Her face turned red. Asking how she personally had been was even worse because the truth was that Elsa had been up to nothing lately. Her depression had her crippled for months, unable to work, study, or focus on anything. Elsa's old hobbies like singing and painting all bored her. Her depression made it hard for her to enjoy anything or do anything productive.

"Anna has a new boyfriend now, so she's been doing well," she blurted, desperate to not have to talk about herself. She started to walk forward past Hans, hoping using Olaf as an excuse to get away. Hans walked next to Elsa, joining her and Olaf. Olaf jumped and acted hyper, ectatic to be near a new person.

"I know," Hans defended. "Kristoff. I know about him. She basically was dating him while she was with me. He was there with us even the day we broke up."

"It wasn't like she was trying to cheat on you," Elsa justified awkwardly. She didn't talk to Anna about why the broke up, but Elsa never truly liked Hans much. He gave her a bad vibe. She felt like he sensed how desperate Anna was and leached onto her insecurites. The truth about their relationship was a mystery to her.

"Well, I don't know what other word you'd use to describe it," Hans bitterly spat. Then he sighed, "I'm over it. And she and I weren't a good fit. I don't want any bad blood over it though, of course. I'd like to be friends despite the whole thing." He touched Elsa's shoulder as a sign of friendship, but Elsa flinched and dropped the leash for Olaf.

"Don't touch me!" She shouted. "Why would you even- Just don't!" she stammered with a red face. Olaf, excited by the shouting started running. "Olaf come back!" Elsa felt too frustrated to even chase Olaf. "You dumb dog! You're too small to even feed yourself! Where do you think you're going!" She growled as she ran after Olaf. Boy, she realized she was out of shape. Her running after her dog wasn't fast enough, and she didn't realize Olaf could even run far with his tiny, old legs. Hans dashed past her, and cornered Olaf who had ran four, long house properties away already. He picked up Olaf, who wiggled in hopes that Hans would drop him again. Elsa stopped in her usless slow jog as Hans walked back to her.

He painted, "I'm sorry I-"

"Thank you," she reached up and snatched Olaf back. Her frustration with the annoying dog grew. "What a brat!" she lectured Olaf, who was too thrilled to realized he'd done something bad.

"Elsa, I'm sorry... that I touched you."

"No, it's not you. It's just a personal thing for me," she felt embarssed to have exploided on him.

He crossed his arms, ensuring he won't reach for her again. "I hate it when people touch me sometimes even. I get it. And I'm sorry." They both looked at the ground in embarassment. A quiet pause came. "I just like you. I didn't think about it."

She tried to sound calm instead of anxious, "You like me?"

"Yeah, of course I do. You never gave me a reason not to. And since my family and I moved in here, we're throwing a party tonight. We tried to invite all the neighbors by putting invitations in their mailboxes. Didn't you get one?"

"I don't know," Elsa honestly replied. Maybe Anna and her didn't read it or threw it away. Maybe Anna had thrown it away on purpose before Elsa could see it.

"I'd really like to see you there. Invite Anna, too." Elsa felt nervous about going to an event while being probably the only young people there. Since her parents died, a lot of public events felt uncomfortable for her. Anna seemed to have much less social anxiety about situations like those, but Elsa was still learning to deal with it.

"Okay, if Anna wants to then we will both go," Elsa agreed, thinking that Anna would never want to see Hans ever again. Elsa was pretty sure her sister would invite her new, burly, blonde boyfriend over anyways. The couple seemed to spend every day with each other. Anna barley ever had a single meal by herself. Being codependent on her new boyfriend helped her cope with her daily stress. Elsa and Hans said their goodbyes, and walked back to their own houses. Olaf hadn't gotten anything out of the walk except a little excersize. Elsa finally had something to talk about with Anna. Normally Elsa was quiet and boring, having no events to talk about. Anna was sitting in the living room, still in her bikini, slouching while watching TV and reading a woman's magazine with an article titled "Don't listen to society's impossible standard of beauty!" and another titled "This new diet will make you lose 10 pounds in only 1 week!" Anna worshiped these magazines, pinching her bony stomach hoping her new diet would help her lose more weight for the summer.

"I met your ex today, Hans. He invited us to a party," Elsa murmured. She didn't truly know Anna very well, so she didn't know if it'd make Anna angry.

"What a loser!" Anna screeched. "I hate him! Tell me everything he said!" Olaf jumped onto Anna's stomach, which Elsa thought was slightly disgusting to have a slightly sweaty dog touch your bare skin.

"He said he knew you're dating Kristoff, but he still wanted us to go to his party because he just moved here."

"Did you tell him Kristoff can bench press like 300 pounds?"

"Can he?"

"I don't know. Probably. He's muscular is the point. Daddy has abs," Anna scoffed.

"Hans looked muscular to me today, too," Elsa shrugged.

"So he misses me and now wants me back? So cute how fuckboys suddenly want you back only when you replatce them," Anna laughed, almost hysterically. "Did he sound like a pathetic, sad idiot talking about losing me?"

"I need to shower," Elsa's discomfort creeped up her shoulder. She didn't know how to talk about things like a normal person anymore. She was too depressed to sound excited about things she didn't care for.

Anna shouted as Elsa left the room, "Good! You'll need to because we're going to his party."

"Wait, Anna, you hate him. Why would you want to go!?" Elsa ran back into the living room, upset that her sister wanted to go. Elsa wouldn't have told Anna had she had known that Anna would want to attend the party.

"He's my ex, and if he wants to see how much better my life is withouth him, then fine. I'm going to call Kristoff to see if he'll come too." Before Elsa could answer, Anna was on her phone calling Kristoff. She kept hanging up and calling him repeatedly until she remembered Kristoff was at work at this hour. "Fuck. Els, ok you really have to come with me or I'll look petty. Kristoff's at work. Please, I can't go alone."

"Then let's just not go. If you want to prove you don't care, then let's not go."

"You've never had a boyfriend! You don't know what it's like. It's normal and natural to go to stuff like this for your ex. I'm just being nice. Now come with me," Anna pleaded. "It's not like I want to date him. I have a hotter boyfirend now. It'd be good closure for me to go, Els." To stop the begging, Elsa agreed.


	2. Chapter 2: Reunited

Chapter 2

Elsa, already dressed, waited in the living room. She wanted to not care what she looked like, yet she'd checked her reflection in the mirror too many times to count. She wasn't sure how to dress, so she wore high-waisted jean shorts, black ballet flats, and a cropped grey sweatshirt that was so loose it fell off of one shoulder by accident. Anna came out of her bedroom door and stood at the top of the staircase, looking down at Elsa.

"How do I look?" Anna asked, tusseling her long, red hair so it'd be freed and fall onto her shoulders nicely. "I think red is both subtle and sexy, right?" She looked down at her red sundress and gold gladiator sandals. Anna was right. Red wasn't subtle, but the outfit was simple and cute all on its own.

"You look great," Elsa said in a monotone voice. It occured to her that she might look less impressive compared to her little sister's outfit. Elsa wasn't the jealous type, but her feelings came from a place of not wanting to stand out in the wrong way. Elsa fears being too casual might cause a spotlight effect on her, and Elsa never knew how to handle others giving her attention. The idea of getting even positive attention made her feel uncomfortable. She tried to console herself into thinking Anna was the ex, and even Hans wouldn't notice Elsa tonight most likely. The only thing Elsa was more proud of was her own makeup. Elsa's makeup made her face look like it came from an instagram tutorial. Anna has a harder time do anything beyond natural looks because her freckles either oddly poked through makeup or disapeared in certain spots.

"Let's go. I can't wait to see the look on his stupid face," Anna grinned as she bounced down the stairs.

"Be good, rat," Elsa baby-talked to a sleeping Olaf on the carpet.

"I think he's a dog, Els," Anna said between sliding her purse over her shoulder. Elsa just smirked, and the two headed out the front door. They locked the door and slowly strolled towards Hans' house. The idea made both of them nervous for different reasons. It was getting dark outside, and the sound of crickets was loud in the air. Lines of cars parked around their neighborhood for Hans' party made them realize this wouldn't be a small event. The moment they made it to the door, it swung open and loud music was blarring.

"Wow, and who invited these two goregous girls?" A tall, dark haired man said at the door. He looked similar to Hans, but his eyes were brown and his nose had a bump in the middle. Anna giggled while looking at Elsa, and Elsa just gave him a questioning look.

"Right... So is Hans here?" Elsa sighed.

Anna scolded, "Elsa don't be rude!" The red headed sister turned towards the man and flirted, "Thanks. I like you attitude. Do you live around here too?"

"I'm Jostein Westerguard. I live here. This housewarming party is hosted by my family, Beautiful," He laughed. "Come in." Elsa rolled her eyes and her and Anna walked inside. The lighting was dark, except for the use of Christmas lights all around the corners where the walls met the tall ceilings and railing of the staircase. There were a lot of young people who Elsa doubted belonged to the neighborhood because she'd only seen mostly rich, elderly people in her neighnorhood. There were young women dressed in leather jackets and round glasses. She young men carrying glasses of mixed drinks and vaping while wearing beards. Their backdoor was open to see a view of a sparkling, blue pool with more young adults talking and huddling around tables of food. Elsa and Anna studied different parts of the atmosphere. In the livingroom were couches filled with people, and in the center was a long coffee table with a man sitting on the table playing an acoustic gutair. Another man sang while also sitting on the table. The gutair was covered with bumper stickers.

"Live music?" Elsa raised her eyebrows.

"God, I bet Hans had them sing this song on purpose. He knew it was one of my favorites. What a creep."

"I never heard this song before. I just assumed this guy wrote it," Elsa tugged on her blonde braid.

"How have you never heard of this! It's 'Under The Bridge' by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, duh! He's just doing this to get to me," Anna grunted. Quickly Hans tapped them both on the shoulder, and Elsa spun around so fast that Hans questioned if he over stepped her boundary by tapping her shoulder.

"Hey, glad you both made it!" Hans smiled. Anna smiled back, but her smile was clearly masking a rage inside of her.

"Hans," Anna greeted coldly. She gave Elsa a look, signaling she wanted to be alone with Hans.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Elsa blurted, not knowing how to excuse herself in a way that Anna wanted. Hans pointed her in the direction, and Elsa disappeared into the kitchen, pouring herself a drink. Although she was legally able to drink, she hadn't drank alcohol often. She never enjoyed the taste, but the drinks here looked great. Elsa picked up a pre-made magarita in a glass from a tray filled with matching magaritas.

Anna turned to Hans, "So you wanted to see me again, Hans?"

"No. I mean, yes. Not particularly I don't know what you want me to say to that."

"I'm dating Kristoff," Anna chastised. "I don't know what your intentions were to try to get me near you, but-"

"I know I treated you badly, Anna. I know I never said that," Hans spat in a matter-of-fact voice. It quieted Anna. "And I guess something is messed up with me that I never said sorry for it."

Anna's cheeks turned red, "I didn't mean to say it like that. But... thank you."

"I really loved you, Anna. Back then, I did," he sighed. "But I didn't invite you here to win you back. I changed since then." He looked into her eyes curious if she doubted him. He wondered if she was still as easy to convince as she used to be.

"Hans, how you treated me was horribly cruel. It changed me. I can't forgive that."

"Then don't. But I bet Kristoff will make the same mistakes. Besides, now that we're neighbors, I just want to be able to be friendly with you and Elsa. That's all."

"Kristoff isn't you. Don't ever say that about him," Anna gasped. Hans put his hand on Anna's lower back, and whispered into her ear.

"Anna, I don't hate the guy. He's done me some favors. Like remember when we had our first fight over Kristoff? And then we had the roughest sex we'd ever had during it? I definetly owe him for that." Anna's face turned red and she pulled away and hit his shoulder with her purse. Wanting to be mad, she couldn't help but burst laughing with him.

"You're gross," Anna snorted. Elsa, still in the kitchen, peaked to see that Anna and Hans were still talking. She hated that she was dragged to this party where she knew no one and had nobody to introduce her. She felt like everyone at this party was too cool for her to relate to. Not having had done anything productive or exciting since her depression, she lacked having anything to talk about and she lacked social experience. Her anxiety rose. Having nothing else to do to make herself not look weird and alone, she drank a few more glasses of alcoholic mixed drinks hoping Anna would come back to her. After some time, most people left the kitchen. Elsa had been in there alone for maybe an hour. She sat on a stool by the kitchen counter near the trays of drinks.

"Elsa? I was wondering where you went!" Hans cheered.

"Where's Anna?" Elsa mumbled. Hans looked at her funny before laughing. "What?" Elsa asked.

"Anna told me you never drink. I guess she was wrong," he bite his lip, trying not to laugh at her.

"She left me alone for like 4 hours, and I got a little thirsty," Elsa rambled, embarassed. She hopped off of the bar stool and wobbled on the floor. Hans grabbed her under her arms to make sure she wouldn't fall. "Hans, I'm n-not that bad. You can let go," she laughed. He looked left and right, looking for somewhere to put her.

"Elsa, I think you need to stop drinking for tonight. Is this your first time?"

"I've had alcohol before."

"No, like your first time being drunk."

"I'm not drunk! Wait, am I? I think I'd know if I was drunk," she corrected.

"No, I would know if you were drunk. And I really think you are."

She gasped, "Don't tell Anna. Please? I think she'd be kind of mad if she knew because she wanted tonight to be perfect."

"Really?" Hans puzzled. "Why?"

"I don't know. You're her ex. I don't know everything. Don't tell her I said that either."

"I think you need to lay down. I'm taking you to my room, okay?" Before Elsa could answer, he picked her up in his arms. Elsa had never been picked up by a man before, and she worried she'd be too heavy to too tall for it. She was suprised neither of those things seemed to be an issue. It made her feel feminine and protected while carried. She'd never known this feeling before. She hated to admit it, but she adored it. She felt like a girl. She was this dainty, small thing, delicate and shielded in his arms from harm. It was the sensation she'd lost very quickly from growing up too soon. The safety robbed of her once she begain to hate her own body, think of herself as a bad person, and lost forever with her parents' death. She didn't want him to ever put her down. She drank in as much of the warmth and security she could get from the few minutes of being in his arms. she could feel his heartbeat, and it pacified her so much she felt an odd tingle in her body. Part of her wanted to blame it on the intoxication, but she knew it was him who caused these feelings. A strong man's presence was missing from her life, and tasteing it made her confused at how much she liked it. one of her arms went around his neck and the other rested on his chest, feeling how sturdy his chest was sent another tingled feeling down her body. He quickly snuck her upstairs, each step she bounced in her arms, while no one paid notice. One upstairs, he carried her down a hallway with lots of doors, each one a bedroom for his many brothers. All of the doors looked the same pale white, and it impressed her that he could tell which was which. He reached his own bedroom, which was slightly opened. He lightly kicked it open and stepped inside. The bedroom's furniture was mostly dark red and white. There were hints of gold as accent pieces around some of the furniture. He rested her body onto his red bed. She didn't want to let go of him, but she had to. She inhaled one last breathe of his cologne, hoping he wouldn't notice. Laying down, it surprised Elsa that there were decorative pillows on his bed. His bedroom and home was in such prestine shape, one would think it was for sale. There were no traces of living in the house: no left over cups needing to be washed, no family pictures, no unfolded blankets or childhood drawings. It looked beautiful yet hollow. He went to close the door to reduce the sound of the music then returned to the bed and sat next to Elsa.

"How long do I have to sit here until I become sober?" Elsa begged.

"I think it'll take a few hours, but I think if you just napped you'd feel better. I didn't want to leave you down there like that."

"That's really thoughtful of you," she hummed, closing her eyes.

"Besides, alcohol is like truth serum. Now I can ask you anything I want to know." He layed down next to her and rested his hand on his stomach.

She giggled, "What did you want to know? I'm guessing Anna's secrets?"

"No," he smiled. "I'd like to know more about you. You're really myserious, you know."

"Oh, ok," Elsa teased. "I'll play along. What great mystery did you want me to reveal?"

"Well, do you believe in aliens or ghosts?"

"I actually am an alien."

"Wow, I didn't realize aliens were so good looking," he raised an eyebrow.

"Shut up," she laughed. She punched his thigh. Normally, she wouldn't be touchy, but the alcohol and the moment made her felt like she could treat him like a friend.

"So are you... a single alien?"

"Are you asking me if I'm single?" She raised on eyebrow, mimicing his past behavior, and turned on her side to face him.

"You're just really beautiful. It'd be suprising to me if you were single."

"I... yeah, I guess. Are you?" She stammered.

"I'm not seeing anybody." He paused. They both looked at each other. Elsa never realized how smooth, and velvety his voice was. His voice was as soft as honey. It made her feel safe and calm any time he spoke. She wondered if he'd always talked like this. He turned more of his body to face hers. The sound of faded music was in the background.

"You have a nice voice," she noted, without thinking. He let out a deep, minty breath that she could feel on her face. It sent a shiver down her spine feeling it.

"You do? Well if I could confess, I always liked your voice also. I always wondered if you knew how to sing too." The compliment made her smile, wishing she was able to be as charming as he was. His energy felt so friendly and warm that she couldn't understand how she used to hate him when she first met him. He took her hand off of her hip in both of his. He looked at her palm.

"What are you doing, Hans?"

"I'm just reading your future," he said casually. He pointed at the line in the center of her palm. "This line means you'll become famous one day." He pointed to the line above it. "This line says you'll have a sky diving accident but live."

"No it doesn't!" Elsa protested.

"Woah, don't interupt. This is serious stuff," he laughed at himself. The both started laughing hard. "Elsa, this one says you'll grow bald."

"Stop!" She chuckled so hard, tears started to form in her eyes. "What if it happens because you said that!?"

"If you sing for me, I'll take it back."

"I'd rather grow bald." She took her hand back and rested it on her hip. She closed her eyes, a drousiness swept over her body. He turned towards the ceiling, smiling at the thought of her losing her hair. She opened her eyes, and her eyes hit the sight of a leather bound book on his desk laying face down. "Hans, do you keep a diary?" She pointed. Still drunk, her hand waivered left and right.

"No?" He squinted at the direction her finger was in. "That on my desk? That's just this thing I'm writing," he dismissed.

"Like a novel?"

"No, it's nothing serious. Just songs and poems. It's something on the side-"

"Read it to me," she yawned.

"I think I should go and let you sleep." He sat up. "You can stay in here."

"Wait, when will I get to see what's inside of it?"

"How about next time we hangout, remind me to bring it."

"Ok," she closed her eyes. And with that, she fell asleep.


End file.
